It has been a long day with all the trades and then the Bruins’ 4-2 win at Ottawa, so I’m just going to close the night with some quick-hit thoughts on what went down over the last 10 hours or so.

•Raise your hand if you had Brad Marchand on target for surpassing 20 goals this year by mid-February, and not only outscoring his teammate Tyler Seguin but also No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall. Marchand has been a ridiculous revelation and he has to be in the mix for the Calder Trophy with San Jose’s Logan Couture and Carolina’s Jeff Skinner at this point.

•Raise your other hand if you thought on Feb. 18 Adam McQuaid would be in the top six and Johnny Boychuk would be a healthy scratch. Luckily for Boychuk, he signed a two-year deal last summer, and he still might get his development on track. This situation is as much a credit to McQuaid as it is a tale of woe for Boychuk. McQuaid had another solid game tonight and it seems like his confidence increases every game. If he and Andrew Ference are going to be your third pair, the Bruins are in solid shape.

•Along the same lines, I have said 1,000 times in the last few years that the Bruins won’t be a championship-caliber club until they can play Ference in their third pair on a regular basis. Now it looks like that’ll be the case, which should aid Ference’s durability and also allow the Bruins to have very little drop-off in their own end when their third pair gets caught on the ice against top lines.

•Going back to Tyler Seguin, aka SegNasty, this blog gives the rookie a lot of grief. But these last two games in particular show that he’s finally figuring out that he doesn’t have to be afraid to play in the NHL and doesn’t have to do much more than skate hard and make a few plays. It’s about time he started to keep the puck on his stick and make some passes that aren’t blind. If he gets to stay on the wing full-time now and continues to take care of the puck, that’ll be a huge boon to Boston’s efforts.

•So Toronto held out long enough to get Boston to part with Joe Colborne in the Tomas Kaberle deal. What does that tell you about Zach Hamill? The ’07 first-round pick was called up for a quick audition and obviously didn’t impress the Leafs as much as the ’08 first-round pick who has no NHL experience and has endured an up-and-down first pro season. Hamill was sort of handicapped skating with Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder, but you would’ve liked to see him make his linemates better.

I wonder where that leaves Hamill on the Bruins’ depth chart now. The Bruins are overflowing with centers now. A restricted free agent this summer, Hamill might not get the chance to prove he’s not a bust in a Boston sweater.

Brian – news flash! There are two ends to the rink. Hockey is not just about scoring – and all those players you’ve listed have learned that lesson and CJ has learned he can trust them not to do something stupid to give up a goal at a critical time. You can’t win if you can’t keep the puck out of your own end. Until very recently, Tyler was not winning any battles anywhere. He was really pressing and he was more a vulnerability than an asset for a while. He seems to be through that. He’s not turning the puck over right now, and he’s actually winning battles along the boards. A kid with his talent can cruise through juniors for no other reason than shear athletic talent. Now – he has to learn the game of hockey. Its coming – we’re all seeing it and that is why he’s getting minutes.

A lot of people don’t know Seguin had one less year of junior than Hall. Hall also played a big part in two long Mem.Cup runs to aid in his development. Tyler is going to just fine. The kid is alright.

Horton, as Julien admits, is a bit of a fragile ego. That means he needs to stay in the top two pairing to produce, and Julein knows the guy will be here long term and is doing what he can with what he has. On that note, I think our expectations of Seguin were unfairly high. He wasn’t quite NHL ready and we stuck him in there. He got those healthy scratches as a way to tell him how to improve his game, and he finally responded and has been accorded more ice time. I think this is a little later in the season than we had hoped to see him come on, but he finally is. Hopefully this is to be the norm for the rest of the season and playoffs.

The more I think about the deals yesterday, the more I like what Chia did. After watching Kaberle, he added a whole new dimension to the team and especially the power play. It’s true that I didn’t see him throw a check last night, but he played a good positional game and make more than enough turnovers happen. Definitely a player who is really good as a one-of on your blue line, and his lack of physicality is fine considering that the rest of the blue line has plenty to go around. I think it’s a great trade by Chia. I reserve final judgment on the peverly deal until I see him play in black and gold, but I do like that he cleared out a scratched d-man and an under-achieving winger (I was covering his ass all summer and he let me down) for an upgraded 3rd line center and a prospect who would seem to have potential. Finally, the Kelley deal is still good since we got a guy who knows how to compete and kills penalties, another area we were slipping in. I doubt we will regret that move, and I am sure we will appreciate it during the postseason.

Bojangles,
give me a break. how can people reconcile criticizing one’s production in the same breath that they justify the lack of playing time since day 1? hard to produce when one isn’t on the ice. how much earning of ice time has horton done, wheeler done, ryder done and even krejci? nothing. enough excuses take the training wheels off already. claude is all too willing to take a hard line with kids but what does he do for struggling veterans? oh thats right keep pumping them out shift after shift and power play after power play.

Brian – No one ‘gets’ minutes in the NHL… one must earn them… and finally after some spurts and fits, it looks like Tyler is. Wasn’t even a month ago that he was falling and sliding all over the ice, whipping blind passes into space where I was pretty worried. I think we can all be pretty confident the kid will be ready to learn alot from the last stretch of the playoff run.

Bruno – Krecji is struggling to click – and I would trade him with a prospect/pick(s) for an upgrade a center or wing if it were available (I really like the Backes/Nash fit for this club), but one thing Krecji is not – and that’s Lazy.

Marchand – Never thought he was even going to stick with the club. Would have bet my salary he wouldn’t be one of the main goal-scorers on the club.

Matt – You rock – busy whirlwind of a day, and you absolutely brought the goods. Thanks so much.

I Really don’t get all the Krejci bashing on here. He’s had a good solid year. He’s averaging 0.83 points per game; that’s better than Bobby Ryan, Dany Heatley, Bergeron, and Matt Duchene. And it’s just a shade (0.01) lower than Joe Thornton and Patrick Kane. He’s also a +14.

Not bad for a guy who sustained a mid-season concussion and was coming back from wrist surgery.

The team looked dead in the game last night must have been in shock or something only for Rask we would have gotten our asses handed to us.MARCHAND WAS OUTSTANDING this guy brings it every night Kaberle will be a huge help on the pp and getting the puck out of our own end it will take time to notice kelly he is more a third or fourth liner will help the pk and face offs.i think we still need that stay at home shutdown defense man and that gritty winger to go in the corners .Peverly was a great trade not easy to replace savey but the think this guy once he settles in will be very close.

I’m just glad Segzy is finally getting his hands dirty. He’s playing hard on the puck, and is finally willing to take bumps to keep the puck on his stick instead of blind passes or long-range wristers. It’s been great, and I was a pretty big critic of his timid play. Wouldn’t mind one more move from the B’s, but so far this looks good and I’m excited to see Peverly tuesday.

Krejci has been very disappointing this season. Not as bad as Horton, but he needs to pick up his game. I have always thought of Krejci as a future 90-100 point guy. Not sure when he reaches that point.

I thought Hammil was decent in his time up here this season. He was better than Wheeler. He is still relatively young, but it seems his time is slipping away. That entire draft class is basically useless.

Marchand is a revelation. If Wheeler had half of Marchand’s balls then he would be a 35 goal scorer. My understanding is that Peverly is a Marchand-type player. We need guys like that

how can you really expect more from a kid coming in at 18 who doesn’t get a real shot?

only gets 8 minutes a game and he still has more goals than krejci. thats not bad for a disappointment. you should include krejci in your list of disappointments karl, huge under achiever. horton is by far the biggest though.

hamill is no good. i still don’t understand why you’re so down on seguin all the time. when he plays with ryder and wheeler he’s no good, when hamill does ryder and wheeler are no good. that doesn’t make sense.

after the peverly trade the kelly deal looks really really pointless. not that it was anything impressive to begin with. good thing they stocked up on third liners instead of getting a top six forward like they needed.

Hamill is a bust although he did score last night and got the 1st shootout goal. Man he got popped good on a check in the 1st period……didn’t come back until the 2nd. Team was slow responding to that hit…..fans noticed!!!! Disgraceful….and by the way, that was Hamill’s 4th goal of the year…….4th…… in game #56…..helllllloooooooo this is Ivan from Hockey……..Yes, jury has rendered it’s decision…..B-U-S-T!!! Thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts……

For a guy who walked onto a team just a few hours before his first game, Kaberle looked great. Now that I’m paying attention to him (since he’s no longer a Leaf), it’s hard to miss his great stickwork, vision, and patience. He knows how to create space at the point on the PP… his movement drew the B’s into the umbrella formation that ultimately set up Seid’s rocket. I’ve been waiting for what seems like forever to see the B’s score on a cross-ice one-timer, and that was a beaut! First period wasn’t too great… but gotta hand it to the Binghamtottawa Senators for showing up and grinding it out.

Also, Peverley is going to impress a lot of people who haven’t heard of him. Can’t wait to see him in the lineup. He’s fast and smart with a wicked wrister, and he isn’t afraid to go to the net or to get the work done in the corners.

This team, once it gets clicking on all cylinders (including in goal), is going to be very difficult to play against. That’s what I want in a playoff team. It’s a good time to be a B’s fan, whether people realize it or not.

All great points matt.Ryder and horton should take some notes on how marchand plays.It seems both of them could care less.Wheeler was from that mold too,happy he’s finally gone.I thought neely would get horton to be a rugged winger but he never goes in the corners.Thank god lucic has some balls.

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